At last the day finally arrived, my husband Joe, after 46 glorious years working at the furniture factory, from tea boy all the way upto Managing Director,was now officially retired. He hadpaid handsomely into a private pension scheme for the last fewyears, and was really looking forward to being able to enjoy the fruits of his labour.Live a little,spend a little, that's what it's all about. He'd always dreamed of owning a prestige car, something that had been well looked after or, preferably, that he could restore to its former glory. He told me that they were cheap to insure, especially when you got to his age, he'd read about it online, and that there were specialist companies for prestige car insurance. You don't just go anywhere apparently, when it's prestige car insurance you're after.

After searching the newspaper and internet, he eventually found just what he was looking for in the local free paper. An old Triumph Stag, it wasn't in bad condition, it had just been stored in a garage and left for about 10 years, but before that it was ok and a very reliable runner, according to the advert. He could hardly contain himself on the day that it arrived.

We had thought it best to have it delivered onthe back of a trailer, since we didn't really know whether it would make it the 10 mile or so drive to our house. She did look a bit sorry for herself when she arrived (we decided to call her Samantha, well, doesn't everybody have a name for their car or is it just us?) and she was lowered carefully from the back of the trailer and pushed (unceremoniously) into the newly tidied garage.

'Next time she comes outside she'lllook likea different kettle of fish' Joe proudly announced. Well, to say I looked forward to Joe's retirement, I actually saw less of him than when he was working. He was in that garage from dawn until dusk, polishing, grinding, re-covering, and doing whatever else you need to do to these 'old ladies'. I had found him some very competitive quotes for prestige car insurance, which we needed to sort out before he went for his first test drive.

At last, 7 weeks and 4 days later, he called me into the garage. (I hadn't been allowed even a peak). 'Sort out the prestige car insurance' he announced, we can go for a test drive on Sunday, as long as it isn't raining. She looked so beautiful, just proudly sitting there, gleaming.